When did you know it was time to get a second dog (especially with a toddler)?

We went from a 3-dog household down to just 1 dog recently, and we’re trying to decide if/when adding another dog makes sense.

Our current dog is a 6-year-old malamute mix. We don’t want to get another dog just for him, but he definitely thrives with other dogs around. Since we lost the others (a terrier and a WLGSD) he’s been noticeably bored. He doesn’t really enjoy interacting with people much (training/play/etc.), but he does enjoy his walks. When we had multiple dogs he seemed much more fulfilled.

Before this, we had already done the transition from 1-2-3 dogs, so we know we can handle multiple dogs in general. The complicating factor now is that we also have a 15-month-old toddler.

We’re considering adding a Golden Retriever puppy around June, but we keep going back and forth. On one hand we know how much work puppies are, and adding puppy training + a toddler could be chaotic. On the other hand, we’ve managed multi-dog households before and we do miss it.

I’m curious for people who have kids and dogs:

• How did you decide when it was the right time to add another dog? • Did you wait until your kids were older? • Anyone raise a puppy while having a toddler? How did it go? 

Not looking for anyone to decide for us, just hoping to hear other experiences before we make the call.